12 



JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



who was just starting for Titusville 

 with a load of freight, to come back 

 for us in the morning. 



We slept in the storehouse, the first 

 time we had been under a roof to 

 pass the night since we left the St. 

 Johns House, Palatka. We took an 

 early breakfast and soon after "that 

 man Bailey," a veritable "cracker," 

 though an imported one, for he 

 claimed Georgia, or "Gouga," in his 

 vernacular, as a birthplace, appeared 

 stockingless,a slouched hat, once white 

 perhaps, a cotton shirt, a pair of well 

 worn overalls held in place by a sin- 

 gle suspender, that was his dress and 

 typical of his class throughout that 

 country. His team was made up of 

 six "alleged" oxen, with their horns 

 bored full of holes as a cure for, or a 

 hoodoo against, some disease. Such 

 a team as it was would make a Maine 

 farmer's heart ache, scrawny, poor, 

 half broken cattle; but the team suit- 

 ed its driver and the driver his team, 

 and his pride in "them cows" was 

 worthy of a better purpose. To in- 

 duce speed (?) he carried a whip with 

 a twelve foot lash and a twelve inch 

 stock. At the rare intervals when it 

 was not in use, he let the lash trail 

 behind him from his shoulder, the 

 weight of the stock in front keeping 

 it in position. Though our boat, l3ag- 

 gage and all could hardly have 

 weighed half a ton yet it was a good 

 load for "them cows" and it was late 

 in the afternoon when we emerged 

 from the piney woods into Titusville, 

 the shire town of Brevard County and 

 the Indian River, our Mecca, lay be- 

 fore us. 



The Maine Audubon Society has 

 now ten local secretaries in various 

 parts of the state. It already num- 

 bers 265 regular members and 758 

 associate members. As all these are 

 pledged to the protection of our 

 native birds, and many of them are 

 engaged in studying and observing 

 them, it will be seen that a most use- 

 ful work is already in progress. It is 

 desired to increase the number of 

 branches in the state and any person 

 willing to assist in the formation of 

 local societies is invited to corres- 

 pond with the state secretary, Mrs. 

 C. B. Tuttle, East Fairfield, Me. 



EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. 

 Gardiner, Me., Oct. 27-28, 1903. 



The Eighth Annual Meeting of the 

 Maine Ornithological Society was 

 called to order in room one of the 

 High School by the President, Capt. 

 H. L. Spinney of Seguin, 10.30 a. m. 



Officers present, Pres., Capt. H. L. 

 Spinney, Seguin; vice president, Prof . 

 L A. Lee, Brunswick; Sec'y-Treas, 

 Wm. L. Powers, Gardiner; editor, 

 John Merton Swain, Skowhegan; 

 Councillor, Prof. A. L. Lane, East 

 Fairfield. 



Members present. Prof. J. Y. Stan- 

 ton, Lewiston; A. H. Norton, West- 

 brook; Mrs. A. H. Norton, Westbrook; 

 Frank Noble, Augusta; Emma Day, 

 Gardiner; Harry Morrell, Gardner. 

 The secretary's report of the seventh 

 annual meeting which was held in 

 Portland, Nov. 29-30, 1902 was read 

 and confirmed. 



Secretary Wm. L. Powers then re- 

 ported that only four members, vice 

 Pres., L. A. Lee of Brunswick, coun- 

 cilor, A. L. Lane, East Fairfield, edit- 

 or, John Merton Swain, Skowhegan, 

 Sec'y-Treas., Wm. L. Powers, Gardi- 

 ner, attended the summer meeting 

 which was held at Skowhegan, June 

 29-July 3 at the same place and time 

 as the summer meeting of the Jos- 

 selyn Botanical Society. It was a 

 great dissappointment to the officers 

 that more active members did not see 

 fit to attend. Notwithstanding the 

 small number of ornithologists pres- 

 ent the program was carried out as 

 previously arranged with the botan- 

 ists. Mr. Swain and Mr. Powers car- 

 ried on field work and were fairly suc- 

 cessful finding such rare species as 

 the meadow lark, water thrush and 

 swamp sparrows. Several nests of 

 the latter were found and excellent 

 opportunities were enjoyed for Ob- 

 serving these and many less rare 

 birds. 



The Wednesday evening program 

 was carried out as follows: A paper 

 on "The Economic Value of Birds," 

 was read by Mr. Swain and a series 

 of lantern slides were exhibited by 

 Prof. Lee with explanations by Mr. 

 Powers. The meeting was held in 

 the largest church in the village and 

 was well patronized by an apprecia- 

 tive audience. 



After the reading of these reports 

 by the secretary, Pres. Spinney de- 



